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Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Authority # 1 & WildCats # 1 - by Grant Morrison

Two new comics from Grant Morrison, bloody hell, it must be Christmas.It appears I'll be waiting a little longer for Grant to be getting back to doing more personal work like the Invisibles for a while longer. This makes it 4 regular series; Batman, All-Star Superman, Authority & Wildcats, so I doubt there's much time to get a project he really cares about off the ground.

Now all the above is not to say that I'm not pleased to have a new Morrison book, just that I wish he'd give me another book as great as The Invisibles.

Oh well, make do with what we're given I suppose.

WildCats #1

Very much a set up issue, but still an okay book. The basic premise is a simple one, he's taken bits from all the previous WildCats incarnations and presents us an Earth where everyone can have their own hero. Which, given the amount of bad guys assembling in the asteroid belt, may well be a good thing.

It's not exactly satisfying though and unless Grant has something majorly interesting planned, I can't see me picking this one off the shelf again.

Of course, Jim Lee's art doesn't help my enjoyment much either. Have never liked it and doubt I ever will.

Authority #1

If WildCats #1 was a set up issue, then this is the set up issue to beat them all. The only glimpse you get of the Authority is the cover. And that is a good thing.

There's a disaster in the Norwegian Sea, submarine goes down and the rumour is that terrorists are on board. So it's up to poor Ken and his mates to dive down and figure out what's gone on. Ken and his mates are expecting lots of bodies. But their not expecting an almost empty ship, a bright glowing wall type thing and another ship to be down there.

And that's it.

Issue 1 over with. Of course, we all know that this other ship, 50 miles long, 20 miles high is the carrier. The Authority's ship stranded on Earth.

But what's going to set this one apart is when Grant gets round next issue to showing us which earth they've come down on.

I'm expecting great things of this one. All the reviews I've read online are really rather scathing about it, but they seem to be missing the point. It's an issue to set up the story. It's necessary to really build up the tension for the inevitable huge reveal next issue.

And that's the other weird thing about all the online reviews, no-one's talking about the one thing they should be talking about. Given Grant's persistent breaking of the third wall in things like Animal Man & The Invisibles plus his love of DC's weirdness and multiple Earth theories, why hasn't anyone worked out which earth the Authority are going to get to play with now?

Art wise, it's Gene Ha (Top 10). And it all looks very lovely.

Looking forward to issue 2. But this is going to read so much better is book form.